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Political Reality

Political Reality
Political Reality
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13 episodes

  • Political Reality

    PREVIEW: What does it take to change a mind | Political Reality | S01E13

    02/04/2026 | 10 mins.
    1. 🚪 Broockman and Kalla, “Durably reducing transphobia: A field experiment on door-to-door canvassing” (the excellent paper that’s a great model for field experiments on this topic)https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aad9713

        🧠 a. In general, Joshua Kalla and David Broockman’s work (joint and separate) is worth checking out, both on political persuasion and other topics (mostly connected to political attitudes one way or another).
        https://joshuakalla.com/research/
        https://polisci.berkeley.edu/people/person/david-edward-broockman

        🧪 b. I particularly recommend their work as great examples of using experiments in political science

        👂 c. Some of the remaining open questions about the role of listening in political persuasion conversations are discussed thoughtfully here.
        https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2421982122

    2. ⚠️ The retracted paper we mentioned and a brief article about the retraction. Even more gory details about the retraction.

        📄 Paper:
        https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.1256151

        📰 Article:
        https://www.science.org/content/article/science-retracts-gay-marriage-paper-without-agreement-lead-author-lacour

        🔍 More details:
        https://retractionwatch.com/2025/06/06/same-sex-marriage-retraction-political-science-study-lacour-green-broockman-kalla/

        📚 a. The more senior coauthor on the retracted paper is quite prolific on persuasion specifically in the context of political campaigns and also recently in the context of AI; his other work has not been retracted as far as we know!
        https://donaldgreen.com

    3. 📊 A comprehensive recent overview of the state of the research on persuasion, including what we don’t know and why some of the pieces don’t quite fit together stillhttps://www.annualreviews.org/content/journals/10.1146/annurev-polisci-051120-110428

    4. 🌱 Broader, more background review paper on where political preferences come from in the first place and what affects them. (We didn’t talk about this specifically, I just think it’s interesting and helpful — and reflects earlier thinking that shaped much of the more recent research.)https://www.annualreviews.org/content/journals/10.1146/annurev.polisci.3.1.1

    5. 💻 Experiment on reducing antisemitism, measured in terms of online browsing behavior after an interventionhttps://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-experimental-political-science/article/combating-hateful-attitudes-and-online-browsing-behavior-the-case-of-antisemitism/05E860416F9D0B7EFEFA0AABDB88C33D

    6. 📰 We may have cited him in other episodes, but Adam Berinsky’s work on combatting misinformation is always in the background whenever we talk about media, misinformation, social media, changing minds – anything along that theme – and is always worth a look.https://berinsky.mit.edu/published-papers/#overlay-context=research
  • Political Reality

    The SAVE act, Voter ID laws, and turnout in America | Political Reality | S01E12

    25/03/2026 | 36 mins.
    https://politicalrealitypodcast.com

    Show Notes for Voter ID Ep.

    📄 Riker and Ordeshook, “A Theory of the Calculus of Voting” (paper where the key equation came from):https://www.jstor.org/stable/1953324

    ⚡ World’s briefest summary of the above:https://adambrown.info/p/notes/riker_and_ordeshook_a_theory_of_the_calculus_of_voting

    📊 Meta-study of papers that built from this earlier work (alas, it’s behind a paywall, I’m sorry):https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0261379412001527

    📚 “Classic” (2008 lol cry) review of research on convenience voting:https://www.annualreviews.org/docserver/fulltext/pl/11/1/annurev.polisci.11.053006.190912.pdf?expires=1774472398&id=id&accname=guest&checksum=4CCCEB2034EED20DCF150C7F87AD6286

    ➕ plus some specific papers (there are lots more out there but this is a decent start):

        🧠 People with greater political knowledge are more likely to use convenience voting:
        https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/17457289.2020.1814308

        ⚖️ Convenience voting can exacerbate socioeconomic biases in composition of voters:
        https://bpb-us-e1.wpmucdn.com/sites.mit.edu/dist/9/583/files/2026/01/perverseconsequences_2005.pdf

        📬 Voting by mail increases turnout but does so differently across groups:
        https://bpb-us-e1.wpmucdn.com/sites.mit.edu/dist/9/583/files/2026/01/whovotesbymail_2001.pdf

    🏛️ Background on the SAVE act:

        🔎 https://bipartisanpolicy.org/article/five-things-to-know-about-the-save-act/
        📰 https://www.ncsl.org/state-legislatures-news/details/9-things-to-know-about-the-proposed-save-america-act
        ⚠️ https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/new-save-act-bills-would-still-block-millions-americans-voting

    📜 The SAVE act itself:https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/22/text

    🗺️ Voter ID laws by state:https://ballotpedia.org/Voter_identification_laws_by_state

    ⚖️ Discussion of the constitutionality and legality of the SAVE act:https://www.scotusblog.com/2026/03/the-supreme-court-and-voting-identification/

    💸 Discussion of the poll tax issue regarding the SAVE act:https://thehill.com/opinion/campaign/5757040-save-act-voter-id-debate/
  • Political Reality

    PREVIEW: Gerrymandering: Mutually Artificial Democracy | Political Reality | S01E11

    18/03/2026 | 10 mins.
    Show Notes Coming Soon
  • Political Reality

    Cutting through the fog of war in Iran | Political Reality | S01E10

    12/03/2026 | 52 mins.
    📰 Reporting on extent to which 2025 US strikes “obliterated” Iran’s nuclear capabilities: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ckglxwp5x03o

    ⚛️ Details about Iran’s uranium enriched to 60%: https://www.armscontrol.org/issue-briefs/2026-03/us-war-iran-new-and-lingering-nuclear-risks

    📄 March 2026 Congressional report about Iran’s nuclear capabilities: https://www.congress.gov/crs-product/IN12665

    ☢️ International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reporting on Iran’s nuclear activities and uranium stockpiles: https://www.iaea.org/newscenter/focus/iran/iaea-and-iran-iaea-board-reports

    🛰️ Satellite imagery of the Feb. 28, 2026, school strike in Iran: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/05/world/middleeast/iran-school-us-strikes-naval-base.html

    🚀 Evidence that the school was struck by a US Tomahawk cruise missile: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/08/world/middleeast/iran-minab-school-strike.html

    📺 Reporter Jeremy Vine correcting himself about the dancing video: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tv/article-15616555/jeremy-vine-alan-partridge-iran-blunder-channel-5.html

    🤖 Examples of AI-generated war videos and photos: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ckg8wvz427vo

    🐦 Example of a “shallowfake” posted on X: https://x.com/TehranTimes79/status/2027766149862117731?

    🎬 Examples of “hype” videos shared by the US government: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/mar/07/trump-iran-hype-videos

    🔍 BBC verify: https://www.bbc.com/news/bbcverify
  • Political Reality

    PREVIEW: Which came first? The Media or The Message | Media Divides | S01E09

    04/03/2026 | 9 mins.
    Full info on https://www.patreon.com/posts/152180612

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About Political Reality

Our daily lives seem increasingly overwhelmed by polarization, misinformation, and dubious culture wars, while we face countless serious problems that require thoughtful and evidence-based solutions. To move forward, we need a shared reality of facts and reason with an equally shared dedication to democracy and fairness. The Political Reality podcast is here to fill that void – diving into how politics and governments work, how to make them work better, how to navigate the dizzying world of political information, and how to better understand and approach the “other side”.  We can find a shared political reality if we are willing.
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